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1 year Post Op and now sent to Pain Mgt again

Well I just went this morning for my one year check-up on my 4 level cervical fusion (c3-4, c4-5, c5-6 c6-7). My surgeon used PEEK Prevail Disks and BMP. I have felt that the results were remarkable although I still have some pain and stiffness in my neck and shoulders and headaches from time to time. My pain Rx was written for 6 Oxycodone 10/325 per day and up to 3 5mg Valium for muscle relaxers. I don't take near 6 oxy's a day maybe 3 usually and 4 on a real bad day and hardly ever take even 1 Valium. Sometime I will be wondering why my neck is hurting and then it dawns on me that I have missed 2 doses of my pain med.Back to the subject..This morning my dr. took x-rays and was very pleased with the amount of fusion and said that it even takes some people up to 2 years to get to the level of fusion that I have. So I am very happy with that. However the pain and stiffness that I still have bothers me. I feel a lot of it has to do with the fact that I sit at a desk typing and monitoring 3 computer screens for 6 hours a day with very little movement from there. When I brought up my continuing pain, my dr said that he would suggest that I return to a pain mgt dr and that I might have to be on pain med for very long term. I asked if I could try something like Aleve or Tylenol and he said yes I could now that it has been a year but he didn’t expect me to get very much relief from them. So my question is this, is anyone on pain med like for possibly the rest of their life ( I have been on every strength of hydrocodone to Oxycodone for the past 4-5 years) So I don't know if they will keep me on the 10/325 oxy's that I am on now or will they want to try me on something that doesn't have analgesics in it (like straight narcotics) Any ideas?

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The new PM may or may not follow the same regimine that you are currently on. It depends on what he finds during his examination and how well it is working for you. Some PM doctors will continue the same medications provided by your surgeon, while others will not and want to start all over , using different medications. Most PM's want to use one LA base medication, and often another short acting (SA) medication for breakthrough pain. You are currently taking percocet 10/325 which contains the tylenol in it, so the new PM may either continue using oxycodone 5/325 or something similar for your short acting and use something like oxycontin as your base medication since it is also oxycodone just in the 12 hour formulation. Can I ask if you agreed to the surgeon using bmp in your cervical area? My understanding is that bmp is not recommended for use in the cervical area at all since it can cause overgrowth of bone and create all kinds of swallowing problems and more for someone. It's the first time that I have read that was used in the cervical area in a long time.Sandi

Thanks for responding to my post. I am currently trying to ween myself off of the oxycodone and us Ibuprofen during the day and maybe 1/2 of a percocet if I am still hurting. I did agree to using BMP, "off label" but I asked a lot of questions and talked a lot with my surgeon about it first. I have have ZERO trouble swallowing or breathing since surgery. I feel that thet the reason other were having issues is that their surgeons used too much of the BMP. I am very happy with the results, even though I have a lot of muscle spasms still because I believe that come from my line of work. I have arthritis in my neck still I believe and when I am not active is when it hurts. I my boss would listen to me and let me move to a postion that allowed more movement I would have a better idea of my true pain level. But he doesn't listen.